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Spanish police bust Chinese sweat shop ring

Spanish police have busted a ring that operated three sweatshops in Madrid, arresting four Chinese nationals who ran the operation, the interior ministry said Monday

Spanish police have busted a ring that operated three sweatshops in Madrid, arresting four Chinese nationals who ran the operation, the interior ministry said Monday. Police found 15 workers at the three sweat shops, all of them Chinese nationals, who would stitch clothes "in appalling conditions of hygiene and sanitation," it said in a statement. "The workers sewed without stopping. They had no contract and in many cases were not signed up to social security. In addition, they had no fixed schedule and earned about 30 cents per garment they sewed," the ministry said. "They never went outside and their work day dragged on until late into the night." There were 175,813 Chinese national legally living in Spain at the end of last year, making them the 10th largest foreign community in the country, according to national statistics institute figures.